The Professional Positive Advantage NetworkEmpowering lives and unlocking human potential through workshops and seminars

Do Something About It: Women Speaking Out

Wear "RED" in support of Equal Pay Day

"DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT"

ISBN

Price $19.55

Paperback

1418405620

Sale $13.55

Mail in Orders:

MPA
P.O. Box 110612
Birmingham, Alabama 35211

About the Book
Patricia Mason is a woman of integrity with ethical values. Her zeal and passion to motivate and empower
others will help you to reach higher heights and achieve your personal goals.
In Do Something about It, Patricia shares true childhood and adult experiences, where she has stepped out
on faith and God has brought her through many unseen dangers.
Because of her passion to empower others, desire to remove barriers and unlock human potential. Patricia
is writing this book to encourage others to be the best they can be.

Patricia has experienced grief on many levels and God has seen her through.
Staying positive through adversities is Patricia’s specialty. Her strong will of courage and unwillingness
to look the other way when an injustice is taking place will intrigue you. It’s time for women to stand up,
speak out and take actions.

Patricia will inspire you to think positive and control your destination. Make a difference in your life.
Lies, Deceit, Setups, Sell out even Deaths have not allowed her to turn away from her belief in Jesus Christ.
The mission has been hard but not impossible.

Thinking positive is the key to success for all of us, and Patricia’s book has supporting documents that prove
situations that may seem impossible by man standards are possible by God promises. We know that no two people
are the same and we all deal with different situations each second of the day. Communication and respect for
yourself and others is a must for positive thinking. It is time for Women to Stand Up, Speak Out, and Do Something
about it.

About the AuthorWhat others are saying About the Author

Do Something About It: Women Speaking Out

"Patricia Mason's book, a non-fiction work about God's amazing grace will encourage your heart and warm your soul
as you learn about her testimony and other struggles while staying positive and committed to the Word of God... This
insightful author shares moments of deceits, the realities of life and how she and others deal with the multitude of
issues surrounding racial and gender discrimination."

The Birmingham Times

I have known Ms. Mason over a period of 10 years as a co-worker, entrepreneur and civic leader. During our frequent
association, Ms Mason impressed me with her continuous desire to help others and make a difference.

As a co-worker, Ms Mason exemplifies a zest for knowledge by learning new things and sharing that knowledge with
others. She is patient and caring when communicating with others and provides excellent customer service to her
clients. When conducting business transactions, many clients ask for her specifically. This is because they are
aware of the quality, “it’s nice to do business with you”, service that she provides.

As an entrepreneur, Ms Mason uses her business, Mason Professional Positive Advantage, as an avenue to improve race
relations through diversity training. She offers seminars that unlock human potential through workshops covering
topics such as, Racial, Cultural & Gender Diversity, Developing Self Esteem, Assertiveness vs. Aggressiveness,
Self-Empowerment and Leadership Skills. MPA has courses for the youth as well. Ms. Mason saw the need for this when
she was working as a volunteer for Junior Achievement. Many of the youth courses are designed to help them to grow
and be responsible, productive and self-supporting adults.

As a civic leader, Ms Mason is very involved in her church, a member of National Conference for Community and Justice
and Metro Birmingham Professional Women. As a church member, Ms Mason volunteers her time to help with the needy in
her community. She assists to provide food, clothing and shelter for the homeless. As a member of NCCJ, an organization
that also seeks to make a difference in today’s diverse society, Ms Mason solicits donations and takes a leadership role
in the annual “Walk As One” event. As a member of MPWA, Ms Mason takes on a leadership role again and works diligently
throughout the year, helping to raise scholarship funds for high school seniors. Through this organization, she assists
needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas by providing food, clothing and toys for children.

Ms. Mason is very disciplined, systematic and very impressive. She makes a positive impact on the lives she touches and
is a very good example for all to follow. It does not matter the challenges she face, she takes them on with a smile:
Always! She has truly worked hard to achieve her dreams, and in the process has made lives better for everyone she has
come in contact with. She is a great role model.

Sincerely,

Jeri Knighton
AVP

She is tenacious!!! I want her to handle more Business Banking credits!!! Can you make this happen?

B.Couch

You have been terrific in managing our situation and in working with me at every turn to arrive at this conclusion.
I personally appreciate sincerely your confidence in me and your willingness to “hang in there,” one delay after
another, while we finalized the sale. You are the banker dreams are made of and very rare in your industry. I
predict that you will have a very successful career in banking if you decide that you want it.

Kindest regards,

W.P. Mack
General Partner

Free Preview
Do Something About It

The first six years of elementary school I attended B.C. Hill School, which was predominately black. Although the
U.S. Supreme Court declared school segregation was unconstitutional in the Brown vs. Board of Education case May 17,
1954 which outlawed the seperate but equal doctrine, it was not until the mid-sixties that intergration was effective
in Birmingham, Alabama. I loved school and enjoyed learning. I enjoyed school so much I was never absent and would
always receive perfect attendance. I enrolled to attend Elyton School, which was predominately white and just a few
blocks from my home.
I recall the police coming to Hill school and lecturing us on attending Elyton School.
The principal of Elyton School was not very pleased about black students attending Elyton School, he and some teachers
did everything possible to discourage Black students from attending their school. The principal would stand at the steps
of the school every morning and send me home to change clothes saying my dress was too short and I needed to sew some
material around the hem of my dresses to make them longer. I noticed the white girls dresses were much shorter than mine
and he never sent any of them home to change clothes. I learned to sew at a very young age. One night I hemmed a red
and white dress very short, ironed and hung it up.

I wore a blue dress with yellow buckles and trim to school which was much longer. The principal, (Mr. V.), was waiting
at the steps and sent me home to change clothes. I went home and put on the red and white dress I had hemmed the night
before. My mother told me I was going to be expelled from school. I assured her that the principal, (Mr. V), was only
trying to discourage Blacks from attending their school. When I returned to school the principal told me the red and
white dress was fine and it was all right for me to go to class.

It took this act to prove to my mother that the principal did not want Black students at their school and it had nothing
to do with the length of my dress. I recall one teacher taking points off on my math tests and when I asked her why the
points were taken off she called me bullheaded in front of the class and demanded I go to the principal’s office. I told
her she was the bullhead and we should both go to the office!

One day the principal called several Black students and I to his office and told us if we would leave and not come back,
he would promote us all to get rid of us.
Some students left and went back to the school which they had come from, some failed and had to repeat the seventh grade
and others had to go to summer school to go to the eighth grade. I loved Hill School and had every intention of returning
to Hill School in the eighth grade. After being treated so unfair I was determined that a racist principal and bias
teacher would not intimidate me in the public school system. It would have been easy to go back to Hill School, where
there were no racial tension or discrimination. I enrolled and attended Elyton School again the following year. I recall
on one occasion the principal called my mother to the school for a meeting and told her, that I was smart but, if it came
to giving me a scholarship he would not because I had a chip on my shoulders. I remember looking at each shoulder and
saying I don’t want nobody to give me nothing, just open up the doors and I’ll get it myself. (This was a quote I had
picked up from James Brown in the sixties). As a child all I ever wanted was an equal opportunity.

I am happy to report because of hard work, dedication, determination and God’s will, I graduated from Elyton and did not
fail or have to go to summer school to pass. I learned to be positive in spite of adversity and learned the Lord would
not bring me to anything he could not bring me through. I also had the opportunity to meet a teacher named (Ms. Robertson)
who was a great teacher. She understood and accepted students for who they were and did not judge people by the color
of their skin, this one teacher made a great difference in the way I viewed people from different cultures. “Thanks
(Ms. R)” for being a teacher who treated all students as equals. And thanks for taking the time to read Charlotte’s Web
to us each evening.

I often wonder what life would have been like if President Kennedy had not been assassinated in 1963. I recall our teacher
asking all students to put our head on our desk and pray that day.
In the neighborhood we sang the freedom song: “Hello you freedom fighters lift your voices and sing, will you vote for Bull
Conner or Martin Luther King?”
Although we were too young to understand everything that was going on, we knew from watching tv day in and day out the
brutality of being attacked by dogs, hosed with water, beaten down by police with billy clubs and thrown into jail for
wanting a better life, was wrong.

Dr. King organized non-violent protests and the out cry for equality was our hope for a better tomorrow. Dr. Martin
Luther King’s – “I Have A Dream”, speech rings in the heart and souls of young and old alike all over the world just as
loud in 2004 as it did in 1963.
Dr. King only wanted to empower poor people and encourage them to improve their own lives, to expand opportunities, to
participate fully in American social, economic, political life and most importantly he wanted all men to be treated equally.
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Kings life was stolen away from us by a bullet of hatred in Memphis Tennessee. On July 4, 2003 I
had the opportunity to visit Memphis and view the hotel where Dr. King was assasinated; my heart pounded and my neck
broke out “in hives”. Thirty five years later we have the same need to empower people and encourage them to improve their
lives. Freedom, justice and equailty for all is still the cry of the underprivileged people in America.

I attended A. H. Parker High School where I met many friends for life. I was vice-president of my class. I was a member
of the pep squad and gymnastic team my freshman year. I was inducted into the National Honor Society and was a
cheer leader, co-captain of the cheering squad my junior year and captain my senior year. Mrs. Moss was our P.E. teacher
and cheerleader instructor. Some of our parents did not own cars. Mrs. Moss would pick us up at the school gym and take
us home after the games.

Although high school was great I sometimes argued, fussed and fought with one of my older brothers as siblings often do.
I would be adamant to use the typewriter to prepare research papers for school; he would be more interested in playing
music on the stereo. On a few occasions I would have to call the police since my mother had requested that I stop fighting
my brothers. We were not little kids any longer, she thought someone would get hurt while she was at work.
Two of my brothers went out of their way to try and get me in trouble. When we were younger they believed I never got in
trouble and they always did.